Clean Water

Clean Water

Investing in clean water and sanitation in schools – to offer children a better future! This is the H&M Conscious Foundation’s Flagship Program in partnership with WaterAid within our focus area Clean Water.

Imagine if…

…you didn’t have access to a toilet or clean water at school or work – what would your day look like?

This is a reality for over 50 percent of the students in low income countries. The absence of clean water, toilets and hygiene education in schools is not just an uncomfortable situation for students and teachers, but also a cause for disease and risk, with negative impacts on education results and wider issues such as gender equality, development and economic growth.

When water, sanitation and hygiene education is improved in schools, it creates a better learning environment that enhances performance. It also leads to improved health for the students as well as higher attendance. Gender equality is improved, since girls do not need to drop out of school or attend sporadically when they start menstruating and there are no toilets available.

When girls drop out of school, it has a big impact on social and economic development and on the advancement of women in society. Women who have attended school are less likely to marry too young and will bare fewer children as well as take a more active role in society.

The Program

This Flagship program is investing in children’s future prospects by delivering water, sanitation and hygiene education in schools to improve health and education and thereby transforming children’s futures.

Our ambition is to transform systems so that all schools will have clean water and separate toilets for girls and boys in the future, enabling children to stay in school and get the most out of their education. Water, sanitation and hygiene education in schools are founding blocks for children’s rights to live in dignity, and is vital to increase their possibilities for a better future.

The program will implement water, sanitation and hygiene education in schools through local partner organizations and showcase these approaches for national and local governments to replicate and scale up at district or national levels. This includes hand washing facilities, separate child friendly toilets for girls and boys and promotion programs for improved hygiene practices including menstrual hygiene. Further, the program will work to advocate, influence and support relevant national institutions for policy development within water and sanitation in schools which will be critical for long term success, indirectly reaching thousands of students.

At national and regional level, the Flagship Program will advocate and influence decision makers and practitioners in order to make sure that the issue of water, sanitation and hygiene education is politically prioritized, financially resourced, and that government commitments in this field are met in schools.

At global level, the Flagship Program will advocate for water, sanitation and hygiene in all schools to be one of the targets of the new UN Sustainable Development Goals, as part of a wider goal of achieving universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.

Our Goals by 2017

250 000 students will have access to clean water and toilets in school and have been educated in hygiene practices.

National policies in five countries will have water, sanitation and hygiene in schools integrated into the educational policy supported with concrete plans and resources for implementation.

Globally, influencing the Post2015 framework and UN Sustainable Development Goals to include a goal on water and sanitation, with one of the targets being for all schools to have safe water, sanitation and hygiene. The Flagship Program will enhance progress on the target by inspiring national and international stakeholders to take active part in realizing the target by 2030.